Interweaving stories of distant lovers to torn up families, changes and challenges, this week’s guest playlister DiscoMonster presents his choices from last week’s nominations into one long, beautiful, emotional narrative

Transcending distance and time, and sometimes in another dimension, space itself, this week we look to go the full distance to explore the trials and triumphs of enduring love, or otherwise, made or broken by absence

From gaffer and duct tape, housing to mending a broken heart, let’s repair towards fantastic playlists created by the handy skills of our guest treefrogdemon, who was inspired by a full toolkit of suggestions from last week’s topic

Is there an echo in here? Those with sharp ears will enjoy some remarkable and fun comparisons as this week’s playlister Olive Butler perfectly picks out some of the soundalikes from a double topic over the festive period

The topic over the Christmas holiday season is a form of convivial, parlour game in which pairs of songs can be nominated that share musical or other echoes - but which came first and where are the comparisons? You decide …

It may be the most precious love of all, but sometimes not fully felt until it’s gone. Guest playlist writer EnglishOutlaw tells a moving tale alongside beautiful, emotional songs from last week’s topic

The non-sexual, non-romantic sort is what makes up most of the love we experience in life, so whether that concerns real or fictional experiences, let’s define and explore it as expressed in song lyrics

Big flamboyant, expressive voices to call-and-response choirs, praise and looking for answers? This week we soul search into gospel’s musical styles infused into other genres, from soul to R&B, hip hop to rock, folk and indie

Triangles and holy trinities, this week let’s explore the musical dynamic within groups in which three artists perform as a self-contained unit, not merely pop, jazz, classical, or folk, but across all all genres

Lou Reed to Tom Waits, Susanne Sundfør to Sandy Denny, inspired by a salvo of superb nominations, this week’s chief arms officer Suzi shoots out in all contexts to hit the target with two sharp-shooting playlists

On the eve of the First World War Armistice centenary, this week we look at songs about striving through extremely difficult circumstances, whether in conflict or peacetime, extreme or daily situations

Strolling, sauntering, strutting, ambling, rambling, hiking and meandering, from a week of walking nominations, these lists by guest ambulatory expert Abahachi will take you through many wonderful countries, genres and gaits

We all walk slightly differently, so this week it’s all about music that expresses various strolls, swings, swaggers, ambles or strides, and whether in politics or personal, marching bands or military, let’s capture the movement of the people

SNACK OF THE WEEK

mackerel pate

MORE MUSIC …

Our latest roundup of new releases includes an emotional return for The Twilight Sad and Steve Gunn, catchy quirkiness from Toro Y Moi, solid alt-rock from Juliana Hatfield, cosmic pop from Steve Mason, and dire warnings from Lost Under Heaven

Getting ahead with the forthcoming releases over mid-January, melancholy, dystopian beauty is a predominant trend from Deerhunter, Sharon Van Etten, You Tell Me and more, with a dash of joy from Jeffrey Lewis covering The Fall

The second part of our roundup of outstanding albums of 2018, in alphabetical order by title, marked by a number of great debuts from young bands, as well as more established artists releasing their best work to date

The first part of our annual roundup of notable albums includes several great debuts by young bands, plus work that reflects dystopian political turmoil, gender issues and growing human relationship with technology

Song of the Day: After Miss Otis Regrets, another songs about a women who decided to stop taking abuse from a man, this time by the band from Brixton whose song eventually became synonymous with the Sopranos

Song of the Day: After yesterday’s She Drew The Gun songs, let’s go back to an original Cole Porter number from 1934, which contains that shot line of defiance and revenge, a tragic tale about a society woman who simply would not take it anymore

Song of the Day: A pair of finely crafted and powerful songs addressing pain and ongoing social problems from the Liverpool indie pop band fronted by singer and songwriter Louisa Roach from the 2018 album Revolution of Mind

Song of the Day: Exactly three years ago Bowie released his final album, on his birthday, and two days before he died. Was that opening track a coda for a stellar career, referencing a life’s work, his demons and impending death?

Song of the Day: After R.E.M.’s The Wrong Child, a more discursive number about teenage problems, ranging from drugs, gangs, sexual abuse, to depression and suicide by one of the finest New York rap outfits from the golden age of early 90s hip hop

Song of the Day: After yesterday’s Problem Child by Hed Ogledd, a rarely played, but beautiful, pathos-rich song from the perspective of an outsider, perhaps with a physical or mental disability, looking at other children playing

Song of the Day: A positive start to 2019, with a simple and gorgeous piano-based melody and love song from the pioneering British psych rock and pop band formed in St Albans in 1961 from their classic album of 1968, Odessey and Oracle

Word of the week: It’s best known as the mythical monster in Lewis Carroll’s poem from Through The Looking Glass (1871), but the word also means nonsense or gibberish, something that continues to be very much at large

Word of the week: It’s originally from an Arabic word, qisma, meaning portion or lot, and taken from Turkey in the 19th century, meaning fate, but where has in turned up in song lyrics since the 20th century?

Word of the week: It’s not all doom and gloom right now. With the winter solstice just gone by, days will slowly lengthen, allowing us to perceive more lux, that unit of illuminance and luminous flux. It’s a beautiful word, but where does it appear in lyrics?

Word of the week: It means utter nonsense talk, and there’s no shortage of that – at work, home, in law, and especially in politics right now, but where does the word come from and how is it used in song lyrics?